NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Of all the House Republicans taking a hard line on the government shutdown, Rep. Mark Sanford may be in the hardest spot of all.

Reminders of how heavily Sanford’s congressional district leans on the federal government are everywhere: Charleston’s 24,000 federal workers, more than 7 percent of its workforce, the 10th-highest proportion of any city in the country; the veterans who make up nearly one in seven residents; the thousands of defense contractors who count on Washington’s largesse; and the multiple military facilities, including the Marine Corps’ famous training base and air station, Parris Island, where nearly 300 workers were furloughed.

Yet Sanford — who made and then remade a political career on his credentials as a fiscal conservative, and who was a proud member of the Republican Revolution that prompted the last federal shutdowns in the mid-1990s — isn’t backing down from his refusal to support a budget bill unless Obamacare is altered.

Unlike many other House Republicans, Sanford has been willing to face the music. He called town hall meetings on Saturday and again on Monday to hear from constituents, many none too pleased with what they’re seeing out of Washington.

Some 180 residents packed one of the meetings Saturday at North Charleston City Hall. The former governor, who won a special election in May to represent the Charleston-area seat he held for six years in the ’90s, was bombarded by questions about furloughs and base closures. Most of the roughly 20 people who spoke demanded to know why the government isn’t running.

“I wanted you to see my face and hear my voice, and to know that I’m one of the guys who’s going to be affected by this,” said one federal contractor who told Sanford he’d be furloughed next week. “I like you, I voted for you. You’re a fiscal hawk, I respect that. But I want you to support the continuing resolution to get the government running. You’re impacting me and my personal life, our community and everyone else. And when I say ‘you,’ I mean Congress.”

It was one such tale after another: A woman who detailed her monthly expenses on a sign, a man who said the federally-funded research project he’s on is about to be scrapped, a veteran fretting about his disability benefits being cut off.

“It irritates me to no end to see everyone playing games with lives, not just veterans’. If you’re an American citizen, you deserve to be treated right,” the veteran said to applause. “I want you and Congress to understand, and to understand clearly, that the people of the United States do not like this back and forth.”

Rob Groce, a marketing researcher from nearby Summerville, rose to say: “It seems like you’re holding us hostage and making us pay the ransom. It doesn’t make any sense.”

For a less skilled politician, Saturday’s event could have turned into a disaster. But Sanford, a former two-term governor, kept his footing. He tried to assuage constituents’ concerns, saying that no one liked the idea of shutting down the government. And criticized his own party, saying that he thought House Republicans had overplayed their hand when it came to their push to defund Obamacare.

More than half his staff had been furloughed, Sanford told them, adding that he understood that the pinch hurts many residents.

“We’re feeling it here,” Sanford told the audience.

But Sanford also held firm on his opposition to a “clean” budget measure that does not try to defund or weaken the Affordable Care Act. He argued that the budget debate gave Republicans a forum to express concerns about the implementation of Obamacare, which is highly unpopular in the conservative-leaning district.

And, more importantly, he said it gave them an opportunity to raise broader questions about government spending. Passing a short-term continuing resolution, he said, wouldn’t address the country’s long-term fiscal problems.

“I think there’s validity to the point that says, without hurting people, there’s got to be a way to put the brakes on [federal spending] and that’s the $94 question,” he said. “And it causes divided government, which we have now, a lot of squawking back and forth. Take this room and multiply it by 100 — that’s the kind of forces you have to bear in Washington, D.C., as people very legitimately disagree with each other on how you skin the cat.”

Not everyone liked that message, however. At one point, a woman interrupted Sanford to ask why Congress couldn’t pass something to get people back to work, and then have the spending debate.

Over dinner at a Mexican restaurant afterward, Sanford contrasted his district in South Carolina’s Lowcountry with other Republican districts around the country that are less reliant on federal funds. He said he is waiting to see whether unhappiness with the shutdown intensifies.

“On one level, it’s a big deal that 200 people show up at a town hall at 7 o’clock on a Saturday night. But on another level, from a contractor standpoint, of which there are a lot in the Charleston area, it hasn’t gotten to the crisis stage. Because when it does, you will see 600 people in that room.”

In a conservative district where President Barack Obama and his health care bill are disliked, there was also plenty of encouragement for the congressman to keep up the fight.

“I’m unhappy it’s happening, but it’s no surprise,” Sam Kirton, a Vietnam war veteran, said after the meeting. “It really goes back to Obamacare … [Obama’s] acting more like a king than a president.”

And when he traveled to more conservative Hilton Head on Monday to appear before a Republican lunch gathering, Sanford met a far warmer audience. When he asked those in the well-dressed group how many of them wanted the House to pass a clean budget resolution, only a few hands shot up.

Sanford brings a unique perspective to the budget clash. He is one of only 37 Republicans who was also serving during the previous debate. And he won a special election this spring by nationalizing the race and turning it into a referendum on the Democratic Party and what he called the country’s out-of-control spending.

After taking office in May, Sanford took a relatively low profile approach. But with the shutdown debate, he has found his voice. Last week, he took to the floor twice to deliverspeeches to criticize Democrats over their role in the shutdown.

“There aren’t that many guys who were here for the last shutdown. And, outside of the Affordable Care Act issue, it deals with spending, which is the whole reason I went to Congress,” he said in the interview. “It’s something where I think my two cents are appropriate.”